As part of her ‘shared society’ speech this morning, the prime minister announced extra training for teachers, more online self-checking for those with concerns and a review of services for children and teenagers.

Mrs May said: ‘For too long mental illness has been something of a hidden injustice in our country, shrouded in a completely unacceptable stigma and dangerously disregarded as a secondary issue to physical health.

Theresa May announced seven new measures (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Yet left unaddressed, it destroys lives, it separates people from each other and deepens the divisions within our society.

‘Changing this goes right to the heart of our humanity; to the heart of the kind of country we are, the values we share, the attitudes we hold and our determination to come together and support each other.’

The new measures also include a green paper on support for children and young people and a further £15 million to provide alternatives to hospital visits, such as crisis cafes and community clinics.

A review of the ‘health debt form’, under which patients are charged up to £300 by a GP for documentation to prove they have mental health issues.

Mind chief executive Mr Farmer said it was ‘important to see the prime minister talking about mental health’ but that the proof would be in the difference it made to the day-to-day experience of people experiencing mental health problems.

Simon Walker, director general at the Institute of Directors, welcomed the review and said: ‘Mental health problems touch us all, and employers have a real role to play ensuring the health, physical and mental, of their workforce.’

But Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb, a former health minister, said Mrs May was announcing policies already agreed under the coalition government and called it ‘a puny response’ to ‘cover up for this government’s failure’ on delivering.

While Rehana Azam, GMB National Secretary, said: ‘More than 12% of mental health staff have left and almost 5,000 mental health beds have been cut since 2010,’ GMB National Secretary Rehana Azam says.